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Excerpted from the book, "I just got a job in sales! Now what?"Todd Natenberg offers some ways to get those messages returned and how you can improve the messages you leave.

"I've made the calls. But the prospects just don't call me back," the rep said.
"Well, what do you say when you leave a message?" I inquired.
"I say my name, my company and ask them to call me back."
"Anything else?" I asked.
"No way! I don't want them to know I'm a salesperson."

Unless you give people a reason to call you back, they won't. Think about your own buying habits. If someone from Publisher's Clearing House were calling to say you won a million dollars, but left a message, "This is SO AND SO. Please call me," would you? No way! But what if the message was, "This is John Smith. You won a million dollars. Please call me."

To be the best of the best in sales, you must never view yourself as just a "salesperson." Be proud! You are more than a salesperson. You are THE SALESPERSON. The prospect is not doing you a favor by returning your call. You are doing the prospect a favor by calling. Your service or product is so amazing, the prospect would be crazy to pass it up. But you must say more than what that service or product is. You must say why the prospect should care.

When you leave a message, state the initial benefit of what you do, otherwise known as your elevator speech. State it precisely as you would if you were speaking with the prospect live.

A few quick tips for leaving voice mail:
1. Speak slowly, but enthusiastic. If you aren't excited, the prospect won't be.
2. Say your name, company and phone number at the start and at the end. Nothing is worse than when someone is interested in your product and they have to play the message ten times to catch your name and number.
3. State your desire to "help." As we said last month, it's a powerful word.

For instance, when I get voice mail, I say:
"Hello, SO AND SO. This is Todd Natenberg, TBN Sales Solutions, (773) 755-1306. I'm sorry I missed you. I'm calling to introduce my company to see if we can HELP. TBN Sales Solutions increases commissions for salespeople and profits for businesses through customized training, coaching and consulting. We establish structures and procedures, through classroom workshops and individual sales coaching, to teach reps to control their own destiny, thereby impacting the bottom line. Please call me. Again, Todd Natenberg, TBN Sales Solutions, (773) 755-1306. Thank you."

A network marketing company, with more than 1,000 sales reps, recently called me back. "I am calling you because of the voice mail you left on Theresa Moberg's voice mail. Please call me. We may be interested in exploring your services," their message to me said.
People can't be interested in what they don't know exists.

For more on Todd visit his website here

Posted by hope at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Brian Jeffrey (a.k.a. The Sales Wizard) offers some pearls of wisdom on how to walk out of a sales call with the information you need and without committing any "accidents".

A sales call shouldn't be something that happens by accident; it should be a planned event. When sales calls aren't planned, they often result in wasted time and effort, resulting in a no sale. No matter how hard you try, you can't make a sale on every call but, as a minimum, you should be either starting a sale, moving a sale along, or trying to close one.

I'm talking about sales calls here, not social calls where you drop in to chat with someone you like and who likes you. Those are called comfort calls, not sales calls. They're usually unproductive but comforting.

Setting Sales Call Goals
Before you pick up the telephone to make a sales call or approach a prospect, you should be setting a sales call goal. Each call should have a specific purpose, desired outcome, or intended result. Before making a sales call, ask yourself, "What do I want to accomplish or have happen as a result of this call?" If you can't come up with a good answer, perhaps you shouldn't be wasting your time or your prospect's time.

Beware of unrealistic call goals. There's little chance of "getting an order" or "making a sale" on an initial cold call. The best you can probably hope for is to get the name of the person you should be talking with. Just getting a future appointment with that individual would be considered a very successful conclusion to a cold call.

A sales call goal should answer one of these questions: "What do I want to happen as result of this call?" or "What do I want the prospect to do as a result of this call?"

Typical sales call goals might be:

get the name of key contact(s)

qualify an opportunity

make a presentation

get an order for…

get a decision regarding…

determine a close date

negotiate a sales contract

close an opportunity

get a purchase order

Next-Call Goals
On multi-call sales, finish the call by setting mutual goals or expectations for the next call. In essence, you're setting an agenda for the next call. Whenever possible, you want to get a commitment on the part of the prospect to do something, and you want to leave the call knowing exactly what you need to do for the next meeting.

Ending a call with, "I'll send out the literature for you to review. If you have any questions, just give me a call. If I don't hear back from you, I'll give you a call." is all right but it could be better. You've left the prospect with no clear commitment for a next step. Ending a call with the following would be even better:

"Let me send you the literature so you can review it and make notes of any additional information you want. I'll give you a call next Tuesday to answer your questions and see what the next steps are. Will that be okay?"

This approach attempts to get the prospect to commit to read the literature as well as accept a call from the salesperson.

Sometimes simply asking the prospect what he wants to have happen next is enough to set next-call expectations. Here are a few examples:

"Where do we go from here?"

"What's the next step?"

"How do you want to proceed?"

"What do you want me to do next?"

Whenever possible, put a timeline on these action items:

"When should we get together again?"

"Can we set a time for our next meeting?"

"When do you want me to get back to you on this?"

The advantage of setting next-call goals or expectations is that it makes the next call much easier to start and gives you an opportunity to service the prospect in a personal value-added manner.

Commercial Visitor or Valued Resource
How do your prospects and customers perceive you? Are you someone to pass some time with (a visitor), or do they welcome you because you bring something of value (a resource)?

Most people are simply too busy these days to just spend time chatting with you whenever you happen to drop by or call them on the telephone. If you have something of value for your customer when you call, you become a valued resource instead of just another commercial visitor.

I call this concept never selling empty handed (or empty headed!). Always try to bring something along with you on the sales call that you feel might be of value or interest to the customer.

Typical value-added items might be:

reprints (technical article, industry news, etc)

trade journal articles

industry-specific, general information

new product information with items highlighted for the particular customer

something, anything, that would be of value to the customer

The idea is to make your prospect feel special. If you know your prospect is interested in a particular subject, topic, or hobby, almost anything pertaining to these areas will receive favourable attention and make you a welcomed resource. In other words, do what you can to ensure that customers look forward to your visits and calls.

Calls to Avoid
Avoid these calls at all costs. They're guaranteed to annoy your prospect and make you sound like a self-serving salesperson.

The Post-Office-Check-Up Call
" Hi, I'm just calling to see if you got the literature I sent.

The What's-Happening Call
"I'm just calling to see what's happening with the proposal we sent you."

The Pick-Up-An-Order Call
"I'm just calling to see if you have anything for me this month."

The General-State-of-the-Union Call
"I'm just calling to see how things are going."

The I-Don't-Know-What-to-do-With-My-Time-so-I-Thought-I'd-Bother-You Call
"Hi. I'm just calling to see how things are going and…" (a telephone call) -or- "Hi. I just happened to be in area so I thought I'd drop in and…" (a drop-in visit)

Doesn't this last approach make the prospect feel real special? You just happened to be in the area? Even if this is true, don't insult a prospect by saying it.

Prevent Accidents
These simple rules can substantially improve your call effectiveness so start planning your calls today and prevent sales call accidents.

you can find this article and more at the Sales Vault

Posted by hope at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Information week reports That IBM hopes to tap into a global SMB market worth about $487 billion annually and growing at 6.5% per year with new servers, software, and services.

How key is the small- and mid-sized business market to IBM's future growth prospects? In the long run, it's perhaps more important than customers like American Express, Citigroup or JPMorgan Chase.
Speaking Tuesday in St. Louis at the company's annual gathering of third party software developers and resellers, IBM CEO Sam Palmisano said the so-called SMB market is poised to become IBM's biggest source of revenue -- surpassing the lucrative financial services industry as the company's premier customer segment. SMB's represent "the biggest IT growth opportunity in the world today," said Palmisano, during his keynote speech at IBM PartnerWorld.
Based on my past foray into the SMB at SAS, I would have to agree with Palmisano. Too bad alot of companies seem so slow to recognize this reality.

In its most recent first quarter, IBM reported SMB sales of $4.1 billion, compared to $6 billion for financial services, which is still the company's largest vertical. * This is the problem in most large technology companies, were they have the golden handcuffs of the "big revenue" such as IBM has with Fin Services, they are afraid to endanger that with an effort in the SMB.

That could change as IBM seeks more growth from business customers with 200 to 2,000 employees. And growth is what IBM desperately needs. Its sales increased a mere 4% year-over-year in 2006 after falling 5% in 2005.

IBM believes it can significantly better those numbers if it can gain a bigger presence with smaller companies. Palmisano said the global SMB market is worth about $487 billion and growing at 6.5% per year. What IBM needs to do to capture more of that, Palmisano said, is develop additional programs and services that will allow independent software vendors and value added resellers -- the company's main conduit to SMBs -- to sell its products more effectively. Already, ISVs and VARs account for 47% of IBM's SMB revenue.

IBM this week at PartnerWorld introduced a number of new products and services aimed at small- and midsized businesses around the world -- and those who sell to them. Among other things, it announced availability in 23 countries of several products it currently sells to SMBs in North America under its Express Advantage program.

The offerings include the System i 515 and System i 525 Express servers, the TS2340 Tape Drive Express storage system, and the Lotus Complete Messaging Express Starter Pack. Palmisano said the offerings will allow SMBs to "access capabilities that were previously reserved for large enterprises."

Beyond hardware and software, IBM also believes that SMBs represents a largely untapped market for its business services offerings. In a PartnerWorld interview, Steve Solazzo, general manager for IBM's SMB group, said many small- and mid-sized companies are looking to outsource routine functions in order to reduce the size of their back office.

"In some cases they're even bypassing software-as-a-service," said Solazzo, noting that such hosted application offerings still require businesses to maintain some level of in-house IT expertise -- a resource many SMBs can't afford on don't want to deal with. IBM is ramping up the number of business process outsourcing services it offers to both large and smaller companies. For instance, it recently acquired Equitant -- a provider of outsourced order-to-cash services.

IBM is also focusing hard on targeting SMBs in emerging markets in Asia and Latin America in the belief that growth in those regions will outpace domestic growth. Last week, the company unveiled localized versions of its PartnerWorld Express Advantage Web portal for resellers around the world. "The subtext of the emerging markets story is once again SMB," Palmisano said during his keynote.

So what's IBM's biggest barrier to finding big growth in the small business sector?

Because the company lacks a retail presence at popular SMB supply outlets, it's still primarily thought of as a vendor to the Fortune 500s of the world when compared to rivals Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. "Does that mean you're going to see our products on the shelf at Office Depot next week? Probably not, but it's an area we need to address," said Solazzo.

The extent to which IBM solves that problem could have a big impact on its growth prospects for the next several years.

Read full article here

Posted by hope at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Far more companies plan to give business units more control, and more spending will be through nontraditional licensing models, survey for Software 2007 Conference suggests.

In an article written By Mary Hayes Weier of InformationWeek
A recent survey suggests that business users want more innovative software faster and will bypass the IT department if necessary to get it. Executives of both business and IT departments define innovation as better integration and usability, more so than whiz-bang features. And software costs? For the first time in years, they're not a leading concern for companies. Is this truth or a salesperson's fantasy?

Apparently that is the results of a survey of 475 senior IT and business executives, conducted by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and Sand Hill Group, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, on software trends, expectations, and spending habits, now and over the next two years. The survey results, which will be introduced at the Software 2007 conference in Santa Clara, Calif., this week, show the dynamics of a modestly healthy economy, one where companies are more focused on growing their businesses than controlling cost.

In some cases, the research also shows IT organizations turning a blind eye when business units take risks with smaller, more innovative approaches to software. Businesses can do that more easily than in years past since new models, such as software as a service and even advertising-supported software, don't require a lot of up-front costs and support.

When asked what software trend will have the biggest impact on their businesses, and what they need most from vendors, survey respondents cite innovation broadly most often. After that, they cite specific innovations: Software as a service ranks second, service-oriented architecture third, and open source software fourth. "The software industry is emerging from a depression and consolidation, and entering an era where we can feature innovation again," says M.R. Rangaswami, co-founder of Sand Hill Group and one of the survey's authors.

This growing interest in innovative approaches to software is generating new energy, as evidenced by a fresh wave of startups, old startups turning into bigger companies, and a rise in tech-related venture capital funding. Fifty-five percent of respondents agree that software industry innovation is on the upswing, with more expected in the next few years. "The post-bubble flash fire created fertile ground for innovation to take root, but it was a couple of years of developments that led to the flowering we have today," says Ken Berryman, a principal in McKinsey's Silicon Valley office.

Yet a sizable minority isn't nearly bullish on the future. Twenty-two percent of respondents say industry innovation is at its peak right now, and 8% say software's high point is in the rearview mirror.

It's a shift larger software companies need to address. Among respondents who work in IT, 29% say they're confident that large vendors can deliver innovation; among those in non-IT business roles, only 15% have that same confidence. Since business users are involved in 61% of all software decisions, and another 35% offer informal input, according to the survey, it suggests big software vendors need to cut back on the tech talk and work on communicating the value of their offerings to business managers.

Read the whole article here

Posted by hope at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Almost half of all cellphone subscribers are now availing themselves of services other than voice, said a recent report from Forrester Research. That means more typing and less vocalizing. Can a study showing a rise in thumb injuries be far behind?

A recent article in the NY Times by writer PHYLLIS KORKKI highlights the way cellphones are being used and how younger people are also less advanced with telephone skills etc. She writes that while prices for voice minutes are falling, cellphone carriers need new sources of revenue. That is why they have packed their tiny devices with data-driven diversions.

The most popular of them is messaging, followed by the downloading of things like ringtones and games. Eleven percent of cellphone subscribers use the Internet on their phones.

As with almost all new technology, young adults are leading the way. Seventy-eight percent of cellphone subscribers ages 18 to 26 use data services, Forrester says.

The older that cellphone users are, the most likely they are to be flummoxed by all those newfangled features and to stick with their tried-and-true vocal cords.
Reminds me of the old days when you would cold call in person, literally knocking on the door and finding the contact! Now it is the phone VS other means of sourcing.......

Posted by hope at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)